>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Baker City and La Grande fire personnel and others gather around the 950 Pirsch aerial ladder truck. From left, are Mike Gooderham, Jim Price, Emmitt Cornford, Dave Campbell, Bruce Weimer, Allan Blair, Rocky Desimini, Gary Timm and Don Taggart. (The Observer/CHRIS BAXTER).

- Bill Rautenstrauch

The Observer

It's been a long, hard battle, but by now the people who labored to bring the Eastern Oregon Fire Museum and Learning Center to life are pretty happy with the result.

Photographic exhibits are complete and in place, equipment ranging from uniforms and badges to hoses and alarm boxes are on display and vintage fire trucks stand gleaming, their bonnets open to expose powerful engines.

And just in time to celebrate the museum's first full year of operation, two antique vehicles have been added to the collection of rolling stock.

"They wee a very generous gift to us," said Curator Kathleen Almquist.

The 1950 Pirsch aerial ladder truck and the circa-1890 ladder wagon arrived at the museum in downtown La Grande last month. The Pirsch is a gift from the Baker City Fire Department. The old ladder wagon was donated by Richard Langrell of Baker City.

Lt. Alan Blair of the Baker City Fire Department said that in 1947 Baker City passed a $1 million levy to buy firefighting equipment, including two trucks.

The Pirsch, on a 1949 chassis, was delivered in 1950 and was used by the department until 2000. Then, it had to be taken out of service.

"It flunked the ladder test," Blair said. "That's a safety test where they run the ladder out, then hang a weight off it. The ladder twisted."

The truck was loaned to the Sumpter Valley Railroad for a time, then came back to the Baker Fire Department. It sat idle for about a year before the decision was made to send it to the La Grande museum.

Many years ago, Langrell restored the horse-drawn ladder wagon — which had been used by the

La Grande Fire Department — as an Eagle Scout project.

He had found it wasting away in a barn. With much tender loving care, he brought it back to near-mint condition.

"It was a mess, really deteriorated, when Richard found it," said Almquist.

The museum opened in the old La Grande Fire Hall at the corner of Elm Street and Washington Avenue last summer following years of planning, fundraising and hard physical work.

It is the brainchild of Don Keeling, who died in 2005 and never saw his dream become reality. Keeling wanted a facility that would pay homage to the region's firefighting past and serve as a visitor attraction.

Keeling was a longtime volunteer firefighter and the volunteer coordinator for the

La Grande Fire Department. He had amassed a vast collection of firefighting artifacts, photos and documents. He also worked to recover and restore vintage trucks used by local departments, including the pride of the fleet, a 1925 Stutz.

After he died, his many friends in the firefighting community carried on with the effort to establish the museum.

They continued renovation of the fire hall, which was built in about 1890 and served for a time as

La Grande City Hall. They arranged displays and organized written and photographic records.

Almquist, former longtime volunteer of the Union County Museum, was hired as fire museum curator last spring. She joined with the volunteers to complete the project.

It is something everyone is proud of, she said.

"It's a regional landmark and the premiere heritage site in La Grande," she said.

Currently, a dozen or so volunteers do the day-to-day maintenance and work with the public during business hours. This summer, staffing got a boost when Susie Cotton, an Eastern Oregon University student, came on as an intern.

Now all the volunteers are looking forward to July 7 when the museum holds its annual pancake breakfast. The Pirsch and the ladder wagon will be rolled out on that day for a special display.

Almquist thinks the public will be pleased.

"People are interested in the area's firefighting history, and also firefighting in a larger context," she said. "They're especially interested in the development of equipment, from primitive until now.

"Firefighting, after all, has been a profession for 2,000 years."